ST. LOUIS — An irritated Joe Maddon didn’t hold back his criticism of home plate umpire Laz Diaz after an apparent missed strike three call in the 10th inning of the Chicago Cubs‘ 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.
“Here’s a guy ascending to the major leagues as a relief pitcher, doing a wonderful job, does his job, and doesn’t get rewarded for it,” Maddon said after the game. “That’s what kind of pisses me off, quite frankly.”
The Cubs manager was referring to 27-year-old righty Dillon Maples, who thought he had struck out Cardinals centerfielder Harrison Bader on a 3-2 slider that clearly landed in the strike zone. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the pitch is called a strike 92 percent of the time.
“I just made a close pitch and obviously didn’t get the call I wanted so I was a little upset, but you have to move on,” Maples said.
The problem is Maples wasn’t able to move on, as he walked the next batter on four pitches, loading the bases before being pulled. Steve Cishek came on in relief, but two pitches later, the game was over on a Matt Carpenter bases-loaded single.
Maddon was most concerned with his pitcher’s psyche after the missed call.
“That’s the kind of thing that bums me out,” he said. “To have pitches taken away from him in a crucial moment … now my guy has to go home and feel bad about himself tonight. And it wasn’t even a borderline pitch. It was a strike.”
Maddon has never been in favor of robot umpires, and didn’t waver here, even after potentially losing a game on a missed call.
“I’m still not advocating an electronic strike zone,” Maddon said. “I’m advocating, ‘Let’s go, you cannot miss that pitch in that situation.’
“He gets that fellow right there, I think it’s a pretty high percentage chance he gets the next one, too.”
Maddon was also critical of his offense, which is in a 0-for-25 slump with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-8 on Friday. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the Cubs are the only team in baseball this season with multiple streaks of 0-for-25 or worse with runners in scoring position. Earlier in May, the team went 0-for-28.
“That stinks,” Chicago third baseman Kris Bryant said. “We have to do something to turn it around. It would be nice if this was something we didn’t have to talk about.”
One thing Bryant couldn’t avoid talking about was getting booed all night long at Busch Stadium. Cardinals fans let him have it after Bryant called the city of St. Louis “boring” during a comedy sketch last winter.
The Cubs star expected the boos — but not necessarily from his own team. Led by first baseman Anthony Rizzo, Bryant’s teammates decided to boo right along with the fans.
“It was pretty funny,” Bryant said. “I wanted to look and see all who was doing it. … I think he told the bullpen guys to get in on it.”
Maddon added: “I don’t think I’ve ever roundly booed one of my own guys before. I can check that off the list.”
As the night went on, the boos got louder each time Bryant came to the plate — not from the Cubs’ dugout, of course, but from the stands.
“They were into it, for sure,” Bryant said of the Cardinals faithful. “It was impressive.”
Bryant has maintained that he was joking around when he called St. Louis boring, though he hesitated when asked what he did on his day off in the city Thursday.
“Do I have to answer that?” Bryant said, smiling. “I didn’t do much. I rested. I recovered.”
Bryant indicated there were no hard feelings and he appreciated Cardinals fans for sticking up for their team and city.
“The stuff I heard wasn’t personal,” Bryant said. “It was booing. That’s what it should be about.”